St. Catharines, 1875, Province Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Artistic historic map showing a bird’s-eye view of St. Catharines. Locally this map is commonly referred to as the “Brosius Map”. This map has been widely used and greatly appreciated as it is a very detailed, hand drawn view of the city. The author, Herman Brosius (1851-1917) was a renowned artist known for completing bird’s-eye views of at least 57 towns and cities in North America. With his brother Frederick, he co-owned the Milwaukee Lithograph and Engraving Company.

In this map, the First Welland Canal can be seen cutting through the city with ships and sailboats drawn in it, one of which is named “Prussia”. The “New Canal” is shown at the very top right corner of the map. City blocks are shown with buildings and trees drawn within them. Streets are labelled. Some buildings and locations are given a number which correlates with the index printed at the bottom of the map.

Inset at the bottom right of the map is a drawing of the former Lincoln County Courthouse which is located at the corner of James and King Streets in St. Catharines. This Ontario Georgian style building was constructed between 1848-1849 and was designed by architect Kivas Tully who replicated this building after a town hall that he designed in Perugia, Italy.

Originally published: [S.l.] : Chas. Shober & Co. prop's Chicago Lith. Co., [1875]

Authorship indicated: Drawn by H. Brosius. Lithographed by Charles Shober & Co. Prop’s Chicago Lith. Co.

Scale: Scale varies.

Reprinted by the St. Catharines Historical Museum, 1981. Digital reproduction: Library and Archives Canada, National Map Collection: NMC-22769. Black and white paper reproduction is available in Brock University MDGL. Call Number: G 3464 S35 A3 1875 B76.

Georeferenced and modified by Map, Data and GIS Library, Brock University.